Tây Bồi Pidgin French

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tây Bồi
Native toVietnam
Extinctby 1980[1]
French pidgin
  • Tây Bồi
Language codes
ISO 639-3tas
Glottologtayb1240

Tây Bồi (Vietnamese: tiếng Tây bồi),[2] or Vietnamese Pidgin French, was a pidgin spoken by non-French-educated Vietnamese, typically those who worked as servants in French households or milieux during the colonial era. Literally, it means "French (Tây) [of- or spoken by] male servants (Bồi)". During the French colonization period, the majority of household servants for the French were male. The term is used by Vietnamese themselves to indicate that the spoken French language is poor, incorrect and ungrammatical.

Bồi is the Vietnamese phonetic spelling of the English word "boy", which referred to male household servants (it also means "to add" as a verb, which incidentally refers to how this pidgin worked).[3]

The French government/colonizers or protectors opened French public schools (from pre-kindergarten through the Baccalaureat II) staffed by all native French speakers to take care of their compatriots/expatriates' children's education. Vietnamese children were admitted as well if they could pass the entrance examination tailored to their age and grade level. The Vietnamese elite class spoke French, and those with French Baccalaureat diplomas could attend French universities in France and in its colonies. After France's withdrawal from Indochina in 1954, Tây Bồi ceased to be used as a common language as standard French was used and is believed to have become extinct around the 1980s. Today standard French continues to be taught at schools and universities in Vietnam as a second language.

Examples[]

Tây Bồi Standard French Literal English Standard English
Moi faim J'ai faim Me hunger I am hungry
Moi tasse Ma tasse Me cup My cup
Lui avoir permission repos Il a la permission de se reposer Him have permission rest [noun] He has permission to rest
Demain moi retour campagne Demain, je retourne à la campagne Tomorrow me return [noun] countryside Tomorrow, I return to the countryside
Vous pas argent moi stop travail Si vous ne me payez pas, j'arrêterai de travailler You not money, me stop work [noun] If you don't pay me, I'll stop working
Monsieur content aller danser Monsieur est content d'aller danser Mister happy to go to dance The gentleman is happy to go dance
Lui la frapper Il la frappe Him her to hit He hits her
Bon pas aller Bon, n'y va pas Good, not to go Good, don't go
Pas travail Je ne travaillerai pas Not work [noun] I won't work
Assez, pas connaître Assez, je n'en sais rien Enough, not to know Enough, I don't know
Moi compris toi parler J'ai compris ce que tu as dit Me understood you to speak I've understood what you've said

(Bickerton 1995: 163) [1]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Tây Bồi at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015) (subscription required)
  2. ^ Trần, Khải (23 May 2012). "Ông Hồ viết tiếng Tây". Việt Báo Online. Retrieved 19 June 2016.
  3. ^ John E. Reinecke (1971). Pidginization and Creolization of Languages. Oxford University Press. p. 47.
Retrieved from ""